Presence and instant messaging (IM) clients are software applications that provide presence information sharing and IM services. The presence and IM clients may be installed on user devices (e.g., desktop or laptop computers, smartphones, or other mobile devices) or accessed using website browsers (e.g., via the Internet or other data access networks). The installed clients may be preinstalled on user devices, provided by service providers, or provided by third parties (e.g., software developers). Examples of presence and IM clients and applications include MICROSOFT LYNC, AVAYA ONE-X MOBILE, CISCO JABBER, SKYPE, and HUAWEI ESPACE.
IM is a form of communication, e.g., over the Internet, that offers an instantaneous transmission of text-based messages from sender to receiver. In “push” mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients, IM offers real-time direct written language-based online chat. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet. IM may address point-to-point communications as well as multicast communications from one sender to many receivers. More advanced IM allows enhanced modes of communication, such as live voice or video calling, video chat, and inclusion of hyperlinks to media.
Presence information conveys the ability and/or willingness of a communication partner or contact to communicate. A user client (e.g., a software application) may publish a presence state of the user to indicate the user's current communication status. This published state informs others that wish to contact the user of his availability and willingness to communicate. Presence information can be displayed as an indicator icon on IM clients, typically from a choice of graphic symbols with easy-to-convey meanings and a list of corresponding text descriptions of each of the states. Common states on the user's availability are “free for chat”, “busy”, “away”, “do not disturb”, and “out to lunch”. Such states exist in many variations across different IM clients. Current standards support a choice of additional presence attributes that can be used for presence information, such as user mood, location, or free text status.
Current presence and IM clients show the current status of the contacts and allow users to communicate with each other via IM, for example via texting or chatting. However, these presence and IM clients do not support features to allow a user to request to join a contact involved in a current communication session (e.g., for a discussion, meeting, or presentation) or share communication session related information that may be of interest or benefit to the user.